Section 48-8-3.2. Definitions; exemption; applicability; examples

   (a) As used in this Code section, the term:

   (1) "Consumable supplies" means tangible personal property, other than machinery, equipment, and industrial materials, that is consumed or expended during the manufacture of tangible personal property. The term includes, but is not limited to, water treatment chemicals for use in, on, or in conjunction with machinery or equipment and items that are readily disposable. The term excludes packaging supplies and energy.

   (2) "Energy" means natural or artificial gas, oil, gasoline, electricity, solid fuel, wood, waste, ice, steam, water, and other materials necessary and integral for heat, light, power, refrigeration, climate control, processing, or any other use in any phase of the manufacture of tangible personal property. The term excludes energy purchased by a manufacturer that is primarily engaged in producing electricity for resale.

   (3) "Equipment" means tangible personal property, other than machinery, industrial materials, and consumable supplies. The term includes durable devices and apparatuses that are generally designed for long-term continuous or repetitive use. Examples of equipment include, but are not limited to, machinery clothing, cones, cores, pallets, hand tools, tooling, molds, dies, waxes, jigs, patterns, conveyors, safety devices, and pollution control devices. The term includes components and repair or replacement parts. The term excludes real property.

   (4) "Fixtures" means tangible personal property that has been installed or attached to land or to any building thereon and that is intended to remain permanently in its place. A consideration for whether tangible property is a fixture is whether its removal would cause significant damage to such property or to the real property to which it is attached. Fixtures are classified as real property. Examples of fixtures include, but are not limited to, plumbing, lighting fixtures, slabs, and foundations.

   (5) "Industrial materials" means materials for future processing, manufacture, or conversion into articles of tangible personal property for resale when the industrial materials become a component part of the finished product. The term also means materials that are coated upon or impregnated into the product at any stage of its processing, manufacture, or conversion, even though such materials do not remain a component part of the finished product for sale. The term includes raw materials.

   (6) "Local sales and use tax" means any sales tax, use tax, or local sales and use tax which is levied and imposed in an area consisting of less than the entire state, however authorized, including, but not limited to, such taxes authorized by or pursuant to constitutional amendment; by or pursuant to Section 25 of an Act approved March 10, 1965 (Ga. L. 1965, p. 2243), as amended, the "Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority Act of 1965"; and by or pursuant to any article of this chapter.

   (7) "Machinery" means an assemblage of parts that transmits force, motion, and energy one to the other in a predetermined manner to accomplish a specific objective. The term includes a machine and all of its components, including, but not limited to, belts, pulleys, shafts, gauges, gaskets, valves, hoses, pipes, wires, blades, bearings, operational structures attached to the machine, including stairways and catwalks, or other devices that are required to regulate or control the machine, allow access to the machine, or enhance or alter its productivity or functionality. The term includes repair or replacement parts. The term excludes real property and consumable supplies.

   (8) "Machinery clothing" means felts, screen plates, wires, or any other items used to carry, form, or dry work in process through the manufacture of tangible personal property.

   (9) "Manufacture of tangible personal property," used synonymously with the term "manufacturing," means a manufacturing operation, series of continuous manufacturing operations, or series of integrated manufacturing operations engaged in at a manufacturing plant or among manufacturing plants to change, process, transform, or convert industrial materials by physical or chemical means into articles of tangible personal property for sale, for promotional use, or for further manufacturing that have a different form, configuration, utility, composition, or character. The term includes, but is not limited to, the storage, preparation, or treatment of industrial materials; assembly of finished units of tangible personal property to form a new unit or units of tangible personal property; movement of industrial materials and work in process from one manufacturing operation to another; temporary storage between two points in a continuous manufacturing operation; random and sample testing that occurs at a manufacturing plant; and a packaging operation that occurs at a manufacturing plant.

   (10) "Manufacturer" means a person or business, or a location of a person or business, that is engaged in the manufacture of tangible personal property for sale or further manufacturing. To be considered a manufacturer, the person or business, or the location of a person or business, must be:

      (A) Classified as a manufacturer under the 2007 North American Industrial Classification System Sectors 21, 31, 32, or 33, or North American Industrial Classification System industry code 22111 or specific code 511110; or

      (B) Generally regarded as being a manufacturer.

Businesses that are primarily engaged in providing personal or professional services or in the operation of retail outlets, generally including, but not limited to, grocery stores, pharmacies, bakeries, or restaurants, are not considered manufacturers.

   (11) "Manufacturing plant" means any facility, site, or other area where a manufacturer engages in the manufacture of tangible personal property.

   (12) "Packaging operation" means bagging, boxing, crating, canning, containerizing, cutting, measuring, weighing, wrapping, labeling, palletizing, or other similar processes necessary to prepare or package manufactured products in a manner suitable for sale or delivery to customers as finished goods or suitable for the transport of work in process at or among manufacturing plants for further manufacturing, and the movement of such finished goods or work in process to a storage or distribution area at a manufacturing plant.

   (13) "Packaging supplies" means materials, including, but not limited to, containers, labels, sacks, boxes, wraps, fillers, cones, cores, pallets, or bags, used in a packaging operation solely for packaging tangible personal property.

   (14) "Real property" means land, any buildings thereon, and any fixtures attached thereto.

   (15) "Repair or replacement part" means a part for any machinery or equipment that is necessary and integral to the manufacture of tangible personal property. Repair or replacement parts must be used to maintain, repair, restore, install, or upgrade such machinery or equipment that is necessary and integral to the manufacture of tangible personal property. Examples of repair and replacement parts may include, but are not limited to, oils, greases, hydraulic fluids, coolants, lubricants, machinery clothing, molds, dies, waxes, jigs, and other interchangeable tooling.

   (16) "Substantial purpose" means the purpose for which an item of tangible personal property is used more than one-third of the time of the total amount of time that the item is in use; alternatively, instead of time, the purpose may be measured in terms of other applicable criteria, including, but not limited to, the number of items produced.

(b) The sale, use, or storage of machinery or equipment which is necessary and integral to the manufacture of tangible personal property and the sale, use, storage, or consumption of industrial materials or packaging supplies shall be exempt from all sales and use taxation.

(c) (1) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (4) of this subsection, the sale, use, storage, or consumption of energy which is necessary and integral to the manufacture of tangible personal property at a manufacturing plant in this state shall be exempt from all sales and use taxation except for the sales and use tax for educational purposes levied pursuant to Part 2 of Article 3 of this chapter and Article VIII, Section VI, Paragraph IV of the Constitution and except for local sales and use taxes for educational purposes authorized by or pursuant to local constitutional amendment. This exemption shall be phased in over a four-year period as follows:

      (A) For the period commencing January 1, 2013, and concluding at the last moment of December 31, 2013, such sale, use, storage, or consumption of energy shall be exempt from an amount equal to 25 percent of the total amount of state sales and use tax that would be collected at the rate of 4 percent on such sale, use, storage, or consumption of energy and shall be exempt from an amount equal to 25 percent of the total amount of each local sales and use tax that would be collected at the rate of 1 percent on such sale, use, storage, or consumption of energy;

      (B) For the period commencing January 1, 2014, and concluding at the last moment of December 31, 2014, such sale, use, storage, or consumption of energy shall be exempt from an amount equal to 50 percent of the total amount of state sales and use tax that would be collected at the rate of 4 percent on such sale, use, storage, or consumption of energy and shall be exempt from an amount equal to 50 percent of the total amount of each local sales and use tax that would be collected at the rate of 1 percent on such sale, use, storage, or consumption of energy;

      (C) For the period commencing January 1, 2015, and concluding at the last moment of December 31, 2015, such sale, use, storage, or consumption of energy shall be exempt from an amount equal to 75 percent of the total amount of state sales and use tax that would be collected at the rate of 4 percent on such sale, use, storage, or consumption of energy and shall be exempt from an amount equal to 75 percent of the total amount of each local sales and use tax that would be collected at the rate of 1 percent on such sale, use, storage, or consumption of energy; and

      (D) On or after January 1, 2016, such sale, use, storage, or consumption of energy shall be fully exempt from such sales and use taxation.

   (2) (A) Any person making a sale of items qualifying for exemption under paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be relieved of the burden of proving such qualification if the person making the sale receives a certificate from the purchaser certifying that the purchase is exempt under this subsection.

      (B) Any person who qualifies for the exemption under paragraph (1) of this subsection shall notify and certify to the person making the qualified sale that such exemption is applicable to the sale.

   (3) With respect to services which are regularly billed on a monthly basis, the exemption under paragraph (1) of this subsection shall become effective with respect to and the exemption shall apply to services billed on or after January 1, 2013.

   (4) If a competitive project of regional significance under paragraph (93) of Code Section 48-8-3 is started in a county or municipality, it shall not be subject to the phase-in period contained in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (1) of this subsection, but such project shall receive the full exemption provided for in subparagraph (D) of paragraph (1) of this subsection notwithstanding the January 1, 2016, limitation in that subparagraph.

(d) The exemptions under this Code section shall be applied as follows:

   (1) The manufacture of tangible personal property commences as industrial materials are received at a manufacturing plant and concludes once the packaging operation is complete and the tangible personal property is ready for sale or shipment, regardless of whether the manufacture of tangible personal property occurs at one or more separate manufacturing plants;

   (2) For machinery or equipment that has multiple purposes, some purposes necessary and integral to the manufacture of tangible personal property and some purposes not necessary and integral to the manufacture of tangible personal property, the substantial purpose of such machinery or equipment will prevail for purposes of determining the eligibility for exemption. The commissioner shall consider any reasonable methodology for measuring the substantial purpose of machinery or equipment for which the substantial purpose is not readily identifiable;

   (3) For leased machinery or equipment that did not qualify for an exemption at the date of lease inception and subsequently qualifies for the exemption under this Code section, the exemption shall apply to all lease payments made subsequent to such qualification;

   (4) Miscellaneous spare parts for which the ultimate use of the spare parts is unknown at the time of purchase are eligible for the exemption as repair or replacement parts. However, use tax must be accrued and remitted if spare parts are withdrawn from the inventory of spare parts and used for any purpose other than to maintain, repair, restore, install, or upgrade machinery or equipment that is necessary and integral to the manufacture of tangible personal property; and

   (5) Energy necessary and integral to the manufacture of tangible personal property includes energy used to operate machinery or equipment, to create conditions necessary for the manufacture of tangible personal property, or to perform an actual part of the manufacture of tangible personal properly; energy used in administrative or other ancillary activities that are located and performed at the manufacturing plant so long as such activities primarily benefit such manufacture of tangible personal property; energy used in related operations that convey, transport, handle, or store raw materials or finished goods at the manufacturing plant; energy used for heating, cooling, ventilation, illumination, fire safety or prevention, and personal comfort and convenience of the manufacturer's employees at the manufacturing plant; and energy used for any other purpose at a manufacturing plant.

(e) Examples that qualify as necessary and integral to the manufacture of tangible personal property include, but are not limited to:

   (1) Machinery or equipment used to convey or transport industrial materials, work in process, consumable supplies, or packaging materials at or among manufacturing plants or to convey and transport finished goods to a distribution or storage point at the manufacturing plant. Specific examples may include, but are not limited to, forklifts, conveyors, cranes, hoists, and pallet jacks;

   (2) Machinery or equipment used to gather, arrange, sort, mix, measure, blend, heat, cool, clean, or otherwise treat, prepare, or store industrial materials for further manufacturing;

   (3) Machinery or equipment used to control, regulate, heat, cool, or produce energy for other machinery or equipment that is necessary and integral to the manufacture of tangible personal property. Specific examples may include, but are not limited to, boilers, chillers, condensers, water towers, dehumidifiers, humidifiers, heat exchangers, generators, transformers, motor control centers, solar panels, air dryers, and air compressors;

   (4) Testing and quality control machinery or equipment located at a manufacturing plant used to test the quality of industrial materials, work in process, or finished goods;

   (5) Starters, switches, circuit breakers, transformers, wiring, piping, and other electrical components, including associated cable trays, conduit, and insulation, located between a motor control center and exempt machinery or equipment or between separate units of exempt machinery or equipment;

   (6) Machinery or equipment used to maintain, clean, or repair exempt machinery or equipment;

   (7) Machinery or equipment used to provide safety for the employees working at a manufacturing plant, including, but not limited to, safety machinery and equipment required by federal or state law, gloves, ear plugs, face masks, protective eyewear, hard hats or helmets, or breathing apparatuses, regardless of whether the items would otherwise be considered consumable supplies;

   (8) Machinery or equipment used to condition air or water to produce conditions necessary for the manufacture of tangible personal property, including pollution control machinery or equipment and water treatment systems;

   (9) Pollution control, sanitizing, sterilizing, or recycling machinery or equipment;

   (10) Industrial materials bought for further processing in the manufacture of tangible personal property for sale or further processing or any part of the industrial material or by-product thereof which becomes a wasteful product contributing to pollution problems and which is used up in a recycling or burning process;

   (11) Machinery or equipment used in quarrying and mining activities, including blasting, extraction, and crushing; and

   (12) Energy used at a manufacturing plant.

Code 1981, § 48-8-3.2, enacted by Ga. L. 2012, p. 257, § 5-2/HB 386.